Once upon a time, there lived a poor mother and her son in a
small village. One day, there was a festival in the village and
all the kids, including the poor son gathered to play. After
playing, everyone started to eat khir (sweet rice pudding and
milk) which they brought with them. This poor boy did not have
anything with him. He felt bad and ran back to his mother. He
asked her if she would make him the khir since all the children
were eating it. His mother said that she could not make khir and
told him to eat whatever she had cooked. He started crying and
insisted on the khir. His mother did not want to see him cry. So
she went to the neighbor's house and borrowed some milk, sugar
and rice to make the khir for her son. She poured the khir into a
dish and left to get the water from the well. As the boy was
about to start eating, he heard the words, "Dharma
Labh," (meaning, you be blessed of spirituality, usually
spoken by a Jain Sadhu). He saw a monk at the door for the alm
(food). Without any hesitation, the hungry boy invited the monk
in and offered him the khir. While pouring the khir all of it
slipped into the monk's pot. He was happy that he could offer
this to the monk even though nothing was left for him to eat. His
good intention brought him good karmas, and in his next life, he
was born as a famous Shalibhadra.

Shalibhadra's mother was Bhadra Shethani and his father was
Gobhadra Sheth. His father had left the house when the boy was
young and became a monk. Shalibhadra was a born multimillionaire.
His life was like being in heaven. It was said that even the
heavenly angels were jealous of his lavish lifestyle. He had 32
beautiful wives. His mother never let him out of his palace in a
fear that he might become a monk like his father.

One day, some merchants from Nepal came to sell some very
expensive saris. They went to king Shrenik's court where the king
told them that he could not afford to use his citizens' money for
such expensive saris. They were going back with disappointment
because they had the high hopes about this city. When Bhadra
Shethani came to know about this, she sent for those merchants.
The merchants were reluctant to go because if the king could not
buy, how any resident could buy such expensive thing. But they
went there anyway. Bhadra Shethani asked, "What do you
have?" They said they had sixteen saris. She said,
"Only sixteen? I need thirty-two saris because I have
thirty-two daughter-in-laws." The merchants thought she was
joking and would not buy even one. She said, "What are you
waiting for. Take out those saris." They took out those
sixteen saris. The merchants were surprised that without any
second thought she bought all sixteen saris. They were further
dazed to see her tearing such precious saris into two pieces in
front of them and giving a piece to each of her daughters-in-laws
to wipe their feet. The merchants were stunned but left with joy.
The daughters-in-laws used these pieces once and threw them away.

One of the servants liked the queen, so she took one piece for
the queen. The queen was baffled but happy that such rich people
lived in her kingdom. She told this to king Shrenik. He also felt
very proud of such rich people who uphold the good name of his
kingdom. He invited Shalibhadra to his court to honor him. When
Bhadra Shethani found out, she went to the king and told him her
son was very shy and invited the king to come to their palace to
honor Shalibhadra. King Shrenik accepted the invitation and went
to Shalibhadra's palace. When King Shrenik reached there, he
realized that his palace was nothing compared to Shalibhadra's
palace. Bhadra Shethani offered him a place to sit and asked
Shalibhadra to come down to see the king. Shalibhadra did not
know anything about king or kingdom and thought that there was
some sort of merchandise that his mother wanted to show him. So
he said, "I do not want to see that but go ahead and buy
it." His mother said, "This is not the merchandise. He
is our king, our master, and you need to come down to greet and
honor him." The word "master" started ringing in
his ears. He wondered, "Why should I have a master over me.
I should be the master of myself." While thinking like this,
he came down, and paid respects to the king, but he could not
stay very long and went back.

He kept on thinking that he was not free because there was
someone over him. He started to think about his father (who had
became a monk) and the real meaning of life. He decided at that
moment to become a monk and told his family about the decision.
His mother and wives tried to convince him to spend some more
time with them and maybe later think about it. But he did not
listen. At last, he agreed that instead of leaving all thirty-two
wives at once, he will leave one wife at a time, and then he
would definitely become a monk. He started to do that the very
same day.

A few days passed by. One day, his sister Subhadra was giving
her husband Dhanna a bath and suddenly tears rolled down from her
eyes and fell on him. He looked up, and saw his loving wife
crying. He asked her what had happened. She told him that her
brother had decided to be a monk and he had been leaving one wife
every day. Dhanna laughed and told Subhadra, "Her brother
was a coward. If he wanted to leave his wives, why wait?"
Subhadra was upset to hear that, and told her husband, "It
is easier said than done." This sparked an awareness in
Dhanna's mind, and he told her, "I am leaving all eight of
you right now, and I am leaving right now to be a monk."
Subhadra was taken by a surprise. She told him that he must be
joking. But Dhanna said, "It is too late now. I am
determined to be a monk. If you all want to join me you are
welcome." Seeing Dhanna determined, Subhadra and the rest of
his seven wives, also decided to become nuns.

Now, Dhanna came to his brother-in-law Shalibhadra's place and
challenged him, "Hey coward! If you really want to leave the
family and become a monk, then what are you waiting for? Join
me."

Shalibhadra heard and accepted the challenge. He told his
wives, "Sorry, but I am leaving you all today." He went
down to join his brother-in-law. His wives joined him too. All of
them went to Lord Mahavir and took deeksha.

What an incredible ending to such a luxurious life! After
observing the penance as monk, he was born as an angel in
Svarthsiddha viman. From there, he would be born in
Mahavidehkshetra and ultimately attain liberation, moksha.